3 Tips to Create a Great Mobile App that Users will Love

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Developing a mobile app for your business is no more a luxury but a necessity. Businesses today are fast moving beyond mobile-friendly versions and you need something even more engaging and appealing to add to your bottom line, and mobile apps is the answer. However, building mobile apps that adds value to your business is easier said than done.
Here are 3 tips to create a great mobile app that your users will fall in love with.

1. Know Your Users Better

When it comes to design your mobile app interface, your users play the most significant role. It is therefore imperative to know your users and understand their needs. According to ‘The Guide to UX Design Process & Documentation,’ you need to understand three fundamental factors about your users.

Personas: User personas are created based on the expected behavior of your targeted audience. These fictional characters help you understand the factors that drive your users’ decisions and actions within the app.

Scenarios: User scenarios are again hypothetical situations that help you gain insight into the user behavior in relation to the given situation. In other words, it helps you understand how a user will act within the app. Using user scenarios, you can design interface that best suits your target audiences’ needs and goals.

Experience maps: This allows you to explore all the potential conditions for an interaction. What happens when a user logs in? What he/she sees next? What action should be taken? Using experience maps you can chart everything step-by-step a user is likely do within your app. This will also help you determine the circumstance and emotions related to those steps.

Understanding these three fundamental factors and creating them in the initial phase of your mobile app development process will save both your time and effort down the road. In order to design great apps that your users will love to explore, you need to first listen to your customers; what is it they are exactly looking for and aim to achieve it. If you can do this, nothing can stop your app from being the next big thing in the town. The secret is to invest in valuable user research and learn early so that you can save the unwanted headache later.
In addition, conduct usability testing sessions not only after the final product is ready but between each major iteration. This will help you understand how real users will interact with your app in natural settings. Try to gain as much insights as possible about user behavior nuances. Conducting an in-person lab session is a great way to understand users’ body position, gestures and other essential behavior nuances.

2. Never Overlook the Rules of Interaction Design

The good interaction design best practices also apply to your mobile apps. A good interaction design inevitably includes 5 pillars, which play key role when you are trying to create usable native app interfaces.

I. Goal-driven Design: An app must have some specific goals. For example, the goal of an eCommerce app is to make the purchase experience more seamless for users. What is it you want to achieve with your app? Who are your target audience? How will your app help them? Define your goals and tailor the workflow of your app based on them.

II. Usability: The app must be usable. In fact, it must be easy to use. An app that’s too complicated or confusing to use is more likely to be abandoned by users.

III. Affordance & Signifiers: The affordance represents the function while signifiers are signs ensuring that the affordances are clear. A hyperlinked text, for example, is a signifier indicating that you will be taken elsewhere when you click it. Use signifiers properly so that you users don’t have to mull over the functionalities of your UI elements.

IV. Learnability: Your users must know instinctively how to use an interface. Use familiar patterns to take the guessing game out of the scenario so that user can learn about its functionalities easily and effortlessly.

V. Feedback & Response Time: Feedback is used to let your users know the status of their intended task. It must be human and user-friendly. Also follow the timing guidelines when it comes to setting your app’s response time.

3. Cover Multiple Platforms

When you are designing mobile apps try to cover as many platform as possible. People today access apps across various devices, from desktop and Web to tablets and smartphones. You should therefore increase your availability across multiple platforms so that your users don’t have to look for alternative options.
Also, make sure your app’s look and feel honor the degree of standardization of each platform. For example, if you have designed an iOS app, don’t just port it to other platforms. The capabilities of each device and platform differ from each other, hence simply porting your app won’t be really helpful.
Covering multiple platforms and following the UI assumptions of each platform will help your users to do what they want, irrespective of their device. This will also reduce their learning time, something that is bound to make them fall in love with your app.

Conclusion

There are so many things you need to keep in mind when building an app, but most importantly – its usability. Apps are designed for shorter attention spans and smaller screens, the UI design should therefore work accordingly. The interface must ideally be easy enough for all users, regardless of their technical knowledge and expertise.

About The Author

Ryan Camomile is a co-founder and the CEO of Infogenix, a web design, programming, and marketing company based in Orem, Utah. The company began in 1998 with Ryan as the sole web and graphic designer, but he also became interested in AdWords and Search Engine Optimization when he realized that there was more to developing a site for success on the internet than having an excellent design. He has now been an expert in the Design, SEO and PPC fields for over 12 years. He uses his diverse experience and unique perspective to help his clients’ projects and ideas to flourish.